I’m out here in New York for what will likely be the biggest event the UFC has ever produced—#UFC205. The excitement level is palpable, and as Saturday night draws closer, I’ve become a little anxious to get this massive card underway. It’s the perfect way to move past the contentious feelings that people have following the presidential election.

We’ve got a really great list of match-ups on the card, and any one of them would be main card worthy, and a good percentage of them could even be main event worthy, but time is unfortunately a commodity I’m short on this week, so I’ll just be addressing the title fights. For the purpose of this post, only one of them—the main event: #ConorMcGregor vs. #EddieAlvarez.

From what I can tell, the overwhelmingly popular choice here is Conor McGregor, and I can understand that. He’s quick, cuts great angles, has legitimate knockout power and great counter-punching. He’s shown that he’s more than just a running mouth.

Listen, I wish Conor the best, and I hope he proves me wrong here. I hope he gets the job done. I know it’s not going to be popular for me to say this, and I’m probably going to get some backlash for it, but I think Eddie gets the job done, I really do.

Don’t get me wrong, Conor is more than capable of knocking him out—he’s absolutely capable of winning this fight, but I just think Eddie will prove to be too much for him come Saturday night.

Joshua Dahl/USA TODAY Sports

The fact of the matter is that Eddie is very well-rounded and has plenty of weapons in his arsenal to get the job done.

Power: Eddie has plenty of KO power and 15 of his wins show that he’s got what it takes to finish fights.

Wrestling: He’s a strong grinder, with fantastic takedowns and smothering pressure. He can make those 25 minutes seem like an eternity.

Experience: Alvarez has been fighting for 13 years over 32 fights. He’s been through the trenches. He’s used to doing battle for the entirety of a fight.

Cardio: I’ve seen Eddie look just as fresh in the last round of a fight as the first. With his smothering style, he can wear Conor down pretty easily, especially if he presses him against the fence the way he did with Anthony Pettis.

Footwork: Conor is widely praised for his footwork, leaving Eddie’s own impressive movement flying largely under the radar. He sticks and moves well, which complements his hand speed and power significantly.

Pressure: Whether on the ground or against the fence, Eddie is absolutely relentless. He is landing singles, doubles, leg trips…you name it. He wins this fight in close quarters, and I don’t think it will be much of a task to get it there.

That said, Conor could knock him out, but if I was to put money down, which I never do, because MMA is so unpredictable, but if I was inclined to drop some money, I’d put it on Eddie Alvarez.